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Mage
This article is a description of the character class '''Mage'. For information on the role of mages within the lore of Warcraft, see Mage (lore). ''For related articles, see Category:Mages. Overview Mages are a caster-based class, were initially the deadliest caster class at later levels. Their primary stats are Intellect, Stamina, and Spirit in that order. Their primary role in a group at lower levels is damage dealing (especially Area-of-Effect damage). In many cases they might have to crowd control mobs by turning them into a sheep with polymorph. Mages can also conjure food and drink to help everyone recover faster from battle. They can also teleport to major cities and open portals for party members. Mages are heavily reliant on mana; without mana a mage is powerless. Mages are extremely vulnerable in melee battles, they mostly do damage from a distance and have abilities to help them keep away from melee fighting. Races The mage can be played by: * Alliance ** Gnomes ** Humans * Horde ** Blood Elves ''(Blood Elves are not playable until the release of the 'The Burning Crusade' expansion) ** Undead ** Trolls See the Mage Races page for further details. Weapons and Armor Mages can only wear cloth armor. They begin with staves and wands. They can learn daggers and one-handed swords. Wands go in the ranged slot. For details on armor set items that are useful for Mages, see Mage Sets. Spells Mages have a wide variety of spells. Although their primary role is dealing damage, they also have some other useful abilities. Broadly speaking, their spells can be categorised as follows: * Damage spells ** Direct Damage ** Area Damage * Defensive spells ** Snare and root type effects (ice based) ** Crowd Control ** Damage Absorption/Avoidance * Utility spells ** Intellect Buff ** Summon food and drink ** Summon Mana Gems, for personal use only * Teleport spells ** Self ** Others See Mage Spells page for further details. Talents Mage Talents are split into 3 categories which mirror their 3 main spell types: * Arcane * Fire * Frost Talent builders can be found at Official Blizzard site, Panda Hideout, WoW Vault, ThottBot, Merciless. See the Mage Talents page for further details. End-Game Expectations Until 1.11, mages can expect to see a lot of Frost & Arcane mages running around. A lot of the major instances are fire based, so a lot of mages' Fire magic will be resisted either fully or partially. Mages will be handing out piles upon piles of Crystal Water, so come prepared. Mages are also in charge of making sure that everyone is buffed with Arcane Brilliance. Most high-end raid instances also contain designated AoE rooms, which contain numerous non-elite, easy mobs. These rooms can be cleared with Mage AoE spells such as Blizzard, Flamestrike, and Arcane Explosion. These rooms are lovingly called "mage pity rooms" by the mage community, since they are purposely put into each instance so that mages don't feel completely useless. PvP-wise, mages were initially considered "glass cannons" and focused on killing opponents using their burst damage (Aided by talents such as Presence of Mind and Arcane Power. However, after most other classes received their reviews, mages are now considered as being just "glass". Mage survivability is generally weak, especially when Blink is prone to bugs. In group PvP, mages will stay back and focus on crowd control with Polymorph until put into "suicide mode" where they enter melee range and spam Improved Arcane Explosion until death. In PvP, mages are usually targetted first since they are an easy kill. The end game mage is now more of a utility class, providing water, food, buffs and portals. Mages' damage is now considered sub-par compared to almost all other classes, barring perhaps the Paladin. See Also See Starting a Mage for some advice when starting out. See the Mages Category for further information on the Mage class. See Mage Tactics for advanced infomation on playing as a Mage. Inigo's Mage Damage Calculator is an invaluable resource for finding out just how important some talents are DPS-wise. See Mage (Warcraft II) for unit statistics in Warcraft II. See Patch Notes 1.11 for up coming changes. Some good info at the official WoW forums: * WoW Mage Discussion * Mage Class FAQ guide * A Guide to Mage Equipment (Revised 03/08) * Comprehensive List of AoE Spots * The history of Arcane Magic in the Warcraft Universe ---- Category:Mages Category:Gnome Category:Human Category:Troll Category:Forsaken Category:Classes Category:Horde classes Category:Alliance classes